


High School Apocalypse

by madsj



Category: High School Musical
Genre: Zombie Apocalypse, hsmzaau
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-24
Updated: 2016-04-03
Packaged: 2018-04-16 23:42:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4644447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madsj/pseuds/madsj
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the zombie apocalypse hits East High, can the Wildcats still be all in this together?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It was after the final basketball game that the strange happenings started to occur.

Troy was in the locker room pouting through the sweat that dripped down his red face. He was still panting and felt his hands curl into fists as he clenched his jaw and punched someone else's locker in the flickering light. Around the corner, the other players were cheering and singing as they danced around with the trophy and the game ball. Chad ran around from the group to join Troy before he punched a hole in another locker.

"Hey man, what's wrong? We won?"

"So much is wrong!" Troy whined. "First of all, Gabriella isn't here to celebrate my victory, and then you guys are all singing and dancing after you told me I wasn't allowed to sing and dance in the musical!"

“Calm down, bro. We got over that. We don’t have to stick to the status quo anymore.”

“That doesn’t explain where Gabriella is!!”

The lights continued to flicker until there was a loud crash and they popped and turned off. The noise from the cheering boys slowly faded away as they realized that they were all in the dark. From the entrance of the locker room came slow footsteps -- heel clicks.

“Gabriella?” He called.

But it wasn’t Gabriella who turned the corner. It was Ms. Darbus. She didn’t look like herself though. Her gruesome face was scarred to a point where it was cut open. Her mouth was gaping, and it didn’t seem like it was because she had just walked into the locker room of sweaty boys who had just won a basketball game. Her arms fell to her sides at unnatural angles. As he got a closer look, he noticed that her teeth were yellow and worn down and dripping with blood. He also saw that she was missing a part of her shoulder.

He had now been staring at her for about 43 seconds. She didn’t move away though. She just stood in the doorway and stared at him with sunken eyes and drool falling from her green lips.

“Ms. Darbus?” He asked. “What are you doing here?”

She didn’t respond. Instead, she grunted and moved a step closer to him.

“What’s wrong? You look different.”

Again, no response. She moved her foot forward again, but instead of planting it, she fell forward. There was an ax lodged where her neck ended and her skull began.

“Are you ok? Awake? Ms. Darbus?” He asked, lightly kicking her. Gabriella appeared from the entrance, and the boys who were originally cheering screeched because there was a girl in the locker room. Did they not just notice Ms. Darbus?

“Troy! Are you alright?”

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be? Aside from the fact that you weren’t here to celebrate.”

“Oh oops. How was the game?”

“We won. Not that you’d care. You’re too busy not caring.”

She raised her eyebrows. “You don’t know what I was doing?”

“Probably singing duets with someone else. Ryan maybe.”

“No…” She pointed to the body on the floor. “Ms. Darbus?”

“What about her?”

“Did you notice anything strange about her?”

“Aside from the fact that she’s face down in the boy’s locker room?”

“Dead.”

“Sorry?”

“She’s dead.”

“You killed her?”

“I thought the whole ax thing made it obvious!”

“I thought it was a theatre thing!”

“She’s missing part of her shoulder!”

“Stage makeup!”

“It wouldn’t remove a part of her shoulder.” She planted her foot in the body’s back and dug out the ax. “But I have a feeling that this isn’t going to be the end. If she’s a zombie, there’s a chance she’s not the only one. This... this could be the start of something new. And if you’re not going to understand the severity of the situation...”

“What are you trying to tell me?”

“I gotta go my own way...”

“But what about us? What about everything we’ve been through?”

“I’m not going through this again. Either you’re with me or you’re not.”

He looked at the rotting bones of his former drama teacher. Now that Gabriella mentioned it, she didn’t look normal at all. Zombies, though. He was so used to beating zombies on his Call of Duty game, but now they were real.

“I just have to−”

“No, Troy. Get your head in the game.”

"I'm in."

"No, Troy." She repeated. "We're all in. We're all in this together." She grabbed his hand and pulled him over the corpse. When they reached the door, she pulled it open and left the other boys in the locker room.

"What about them? Are they in this with us?"

"Some of them are. They'll meet us at the designated spot. There are a few of them who were bit by someone though. They'll get them."

"Is Chad...?"

"Chad's fine. Stop dragging your feet! We need to--" She halted and her feet squeaked on the tile floor. In front of her stood Sharpay with a bow in her hands and a quiver full of arrows strung behind her back. She was pointing the bow at them, loaded with an arrow that looked almost as sharp as Gabriella's ax.

"Gabriella. Troy."

"Sharpay. What are you up to?"

"What does it look like I'm up to?"

"Please don't kill me!!" Troy sank to his knees and started to cry. Gabriella pulled him off of the ground.

"I'm trying to help a little bit, but I figured you'd come out of nowhere and try and save Troy and then everyone will think that you did this all." She scrunched up her nose and did her best to do a sarcastic wave while pointing an arrow at someone. "Gabriella saves the day. Again."

"Listen, Sharpay..."

"Oh, fabulous. What?"

"Normally I would try to steal your spotlight so you couldn't bop to the top."

"So what's stopping you now?"

"Well... what do you want?"

"I want it all. I want the world -- nothing less -- but right now I'm going to have to survive."

"We work together better as a team."

"Doubtful."

"We can do this. Team?" Gabriella held out her hand. Sharpay raised her eyebrows and looked as though she was going to let go of the arrow, but instead she leaned over Gabriella's left shoulder and fired one arrow, reloaded, and fired another.

"Team." She shook her hand and walked over to the bodies she just shot. They were still twitching, but the arrows hit them in the neck and went all the way back to sever the brainstem.

"Gross." Gabriella looked at what was left of the faces. "I think that kid's name -- nickname at least -- was Rocket. As for the other kid..."

"Copter." Troy said. "He was on the team. A good kid, but terrible at 3-pointers." He shrugged. "Oh well."

"Oh well??" Sharpay said. "That's it? There are zombies roaming the school, probably outside the school as well, and all you have to say is oh well?"

"Shar..." Gabriella stepped forward and put a hand on her shoulder, but Sharpay shook it off.

"No. This isn't an 'oh well' situation. We're going to fix this."

"We have to meet at the meeting point though. There are others."

"Was I the only one who didn't know about this zombie thing?" Troy asked. The girls both nodded. "So where's this meetup spot you keep talking about."

"The garden balcony." Gabriella said, pointing towards the front doors. "It's above ground level, so they won't follow us. Also it's pretty up there."

"We're just going to have to make sure we aren't followed. I'll lead." Sharpay took out another arrow and readied her bow. Just in case.


	2. Chapter 2

Troy remembered when he first took Gabriella up to the garden how her eyes lit up. That was before they could be seen together. Before they could let people know that they were going to be in the high school musical.

The flowers that were alive then were dead now -- and from the looks of it, they hadn't been replaced. The stems were crumbling and rotting, much like Ms. Darbus' body -- the image that was burned into his mind.

But even though the flowers and plants were all dead, the people who gathered were far from it. They were alive. And they were ready to fight to stay that way.

At least, most of them were. Some of them were still in shock. A small freshman girl buried her head into Taylor's arm while she sobbed. A sophomore boy sat next to her, unmoving, eyes wide open and mouth gaping. Another boy stood in the corner with his arms crossed while tapping his foot, but his eyes were averted from everyone.

When Taylor saw Gabriella come up the ladder, she gave her a small smile and waved her over. Troy stood where he was after lifting the ladder up, awkwardly trying to console the boy standing in the corner. He went to put a hand on his shoulder but opted for a fist bump.

"Glad you're here." Taylor said.

"Thank Sharpay for that." Gabriella pointed at her, and Sharpay grinned.

"Any word on the other basketball boys?"

"I was just told that they'd follow."

"After you'd tell them to follow..." She raised an eyebrow. "You did tell them, right?"

"No... I thought they knew."

"I didn't want to scare them before the big game."

“Now they won’t have to worry about one. They’ll all be dead.”

Troy perked up in the corner and stopped playing rock-paper-scissors with the boy standing there. “No more basketball?” Gabriella rolled her eyes.

“Not when half the team is dead, and the other half is only half-dead.”

“Listen...” Taylor started. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell them the whole plan. But they did know that this is the meeting place. If we’re lucky, they’ll meet us here.”

A loud clatter from below startled the girl that Taylor was consoling. She jerked up and craned her neck to see what was going on, and the girl next to her put her arm around her to keep her from running down to investigate. She rested in her arms and calmed down again. Taylor stood up and looked over the edge of the fence. Chad, Zeke, and Ryan were sprinting from the door of the gym, far ahead of the five zombies that trudged behind them.

From up here, Troy definitely could see the difference between a human and a zombie. Not only were they missing limbs, cut and scarred all over their discolored skin, oozing fluids, and gnashing their teeth, but a low moan rose from the group. Those were definitely not humans.

Clattering rose from the ladder as the three boys climbed up and pulled the ladder up. Ryan sat on the ground with his hands on his knees, head towards the sky as he panted and smiled. Zeke brought a small bag over to Sharpay, who gave him a hug as she took it. Chad stood by Taylor and took her hand. She kissed his sweaty forehead and put her arm around him.

"So this, Troy," Gabriella said, "Is our meetup group."

"What about the rest of the team?"

"Look down." Directly beneath the balcony was a group of zombies. Most of them were wearing the same jerseys that Troy, Chad, Zeke, and Ryan were wearing, but some of them wore normal clothes. They snarled and gnashed their teeth and tried to climb up the pole that held up the balcony and slid down and tried again.

"At least they can't get up here, right?" He joked.

"Their brains aren't working, yeah, but eventually they might find a way to stand on top of each other and climb up here or something. We aren't going to be able to stay up here forever."

"Not only that, but we're going to run out of food." Taylor said. Sharpay stuffed the bag Zeke gave her into her quiver of arrows. There was no way she was sharing that. [AN: Sharpay not Share-pay]

The balcony shook. The basketball zombies charged towards the pole and hit it at the same time, letting the vibrations move to the top of the structure.

"We need to move." Gabriella nodded and took Taylor's hand. Chad took Taylor's hand while glaring at Gabriella, and, in an effort to not seem jealous and worried that his girlfriend would be stolen, reached out towards Troy's hand, but Troy mouthed "no homo" and took Gabriella's hand.

The balcony shook again. Gabriella lost her balance, but Taylor caught her before she hit the floor. She pulled her up and was about to say something before the balcony creaked and they felt it tipping.

"If we can get it to tip towards the school..." Gabriella looked at Taylor.

"We can climb onto the roof and escape that way!" Taylor high-fived Gabriella, but they both looked at their respective boyfriends immediately afterwards. The boys glared at each other.

"Everyone!" Gabriella yelled. "This corner of the balcony! Huddle together!" Everyone listened to her.

A loud creaking sound rang through everyone's eardrums, and they felt the balcony tip. One... two... three.

It cracked. It fell towards the roof, everyone screaming until it hit.

"Everyone alright?" A collective hum of yes-es and nods. "Then it's time to move." A collective hum of no's. Taylor shook her head and started walking along the edge of the roof. She looked down to see the zombies that knocked over the balcony growling and moaning and trying to scale the wall but falling down the moment their feet left the ground. Out in the distance, she was able to make out the silhouette of West High.

"Hey Chad," she said, waving so he'd come over to her side, "Do you think West would help us?"

"West? The home of the Knights?" He scoffed. "They'd kill us faster than any zombie would. They hold grudges."

"They probably also hold fresh food and a safe place to have shelter."

"How do we get over there without dying?"

"You still have that truck you saved up for?"

"Yeah..." He narrowed his eyes. "Taylor, no."

"Chad, yes. It's the safest we have."

"It won't fit everyone! And I can't ruin the new paint job with blood!"

"We'll get a trailer or something from the auto shop. But it's the only way."

"Besides," Troy added, "Blood on your truck would make the Knights not want to mess with us."

"True. Go get the trailer. I'll pull my truck around." He gave Taylor a quick kiss and went to the balcony, sliding down the slanted pole.


	3. Chapter 3

Troy whooped when Chad hit another zombie. The truck bounced as they rolled over it, and they high-fived as they watched it disappear in the dust and the horizon. Taylor and Gabriella sat in the backseat, making sure that the two girls from the balcony, Margaret and Angela, were safe. Margaret had scratch marks up and down her arms, but nothing that would have turned her. She was still in shock after her boyfriend turned into a zombie.

"I know it was just a few months that we were together, but..." She trailed off, and Angela rubbed her back.

"You're going to be fine, Mags. I'll help you get through this." She looked up at Taylor and Gabriella and back at Margaret. "We all will."

Troy whooped again and nearly jumped out of his seat as Chad hit two zombies in a row.

"Could you boys keep it down up there?" Taylor asked as the truck bounced and rolled over the corpses. "We're trying to console someone who lost someone close to her."

"Sorry, Taylor," they said in unison as Troy pumped his fist and whispered "yes!" as the truck rolled over another zombie.

"How much longer till we're there?" Margaret asked. Her voice was still shaking.

"Ten minutes. Five if I drive faster."

"Dude," Troy said, "I doubt police are going to be monitoring the speed. Zombies."

"True." The tires squealed and they were all pressed back into the seats as the truck gained speed. Margaret kept her eyes squeezed shut so she wouldn't have to see any more of the dead people, and Angela kept her arm around her and whispered in her ear to calm her.

Chad finally slowed the truck down and they stopped.

"Here we are. Troy, can you tell the people in the trailer to just... stay put? We'll get them later. Once we find out if the Knights are going to let us in."

"What about Sharpay? And the rest of the team?"

"Sharpay will find a reflective surface to look at, and the team can just wait." He gave Troy a high five for the sick Sharpay burn before going to the wall of the school.

"I don't remember it being this tall." Taylor said, admiring the school's brick walls.

"Nerd -- sorry, Scholastic Club didn't travel here as often as Basketball did."

"Hilarious." She wrinkled her nose at Chad's comment. "The point is that zombies on the outside are staying there. And that's good."

"What about us getting in?" Gabriella asked as they walked around to the front of the school. "They're locked and bolted."

"There was a side door that was always kept open that we'd sneak into to TP rooms before games. I'll go check if it's open." He ran off as Taylor turned to Troy, narrowing her eyes.

"I won't ask about all of your weird basketball boy rituals."

"It'd be best not to." He started to laugh, but then they heard Chad scream. Gabriella grabbed Taylor's hand before she bolted.

"What if he's hurt though?"

"What if he's being attacked by a hoarde of zombies? What about us? We can't risk getting attacked!"

"We need to help him!" She tried wrenching her arm out of Gabriella's grasp, but she held on tighter.

"Taylor, look at me!" She stopped squirming and took her nails out of Gabriella's skin. "Listen to me. We need to just wait a few moments so we know there's nothing there." There was no more screaming, and if there was a scuffle at all, it was over by the time Gabriella let go of Taylor's arm.

"Sorry about that."

"It's ok. Let's go find him." They all ran to where the scream came from and found Chad strangling the last of the three zombies that attacked him.

"They're all in this together." He said as it went limp in his arms. "The East zombies. The West ones." Two of the zombies on the ground had blue jerseys, and the last one wore a red one. It was a tall, muscular zombie. Even though it was missing parts of its face and arms, he still looked human and familiar. "And this guy got over here fast."

"Who was he?" Troy asked, even though he knew.

"Coach Bolton. A great man." Chad sighed. "I'm really sorry, man."

"It's all good." He took a deep breath, ignoring the stench of blood and rotting skin. "We're going to be fine. That's the important part."

"If you need anything, man..." Chad went to put his arm around Troy, but Troy backed away. "Dude, it's not gay if I'm consoling you."

"No man, you..." He pointed at his arm. There was a small red line just above his elbow. Blood.

"Yeah, uh. Your dad was a fighter."

"Chad, you've been exposed to... whatever's going on." Taylor said, weaving her fingers together behind her neck and biting her lip.

"I wasn't bit though!"

"We don't know if a scratch is enough to start turning someone, though!" She crossed her arms and tapped her fingers. "Where's the way in? We'll find their lab and do some tests."

"It's this way." He pointed to a door that was blocked by wooden planks. "Gabs, there's a crowbar in my truck."

"Say no more." She wasn't gone for very long and returned with not only the crowbar, but the people in the truck and the trailer. Just in case, she said. Chad pried the nails off of the planks and kicked in the door.

"Always wanted to do that." Instead of being greeted by silent halls or friendly people, however, they were met with two students yelling and holding baseball bats, ready to swing.

"Zombies?" One of them asked, adjusting her grip on the bat. The other one shook his head.

"Humans. East High."

"Ah." She swung the bat but stopped when Gabriella stepped forward. “Gabs?”

“Hi Hannah.” She stepped forward and showed that her hands were empty (after dropping the knife she was holding, of course). Hannah put down the bat and ran her tongue along her teeth.

“Two years? Three?”

“Sounds about right.”

“You know her?” Troy asked.

“She was in my scholastic club at the school I was at before East High.”

“And we were−”

“Very good at school.”

“Awesome!” Troy stepped forward and held out his non-knife hand for a handshake. Hannah shook her head but also his hand. “Troy. Boyfriend.”

“Nice. Nice.” She raised her eyebrows at Gabriella who looked down the hallway.

“How are you holding up here?”

"It's different. The start of something new, I guess."

"You know that song too?"

"Literally everyone knows that song. It's amazing."

"I guess. You got any food?"

"Nothing fancy. No humuhumunukunukuapua'a or anything like that." Sharpay smiled at her proper pronunciation of the fish's name, remembering the song she sang to Troy before realizing that she, like Gabriella, could do much better.

"That's totally fine. Can we use your lab?" She motioned towards Chad. "We might have an issue."

"Yeah. Yeah absolutely. Follow us." Hannah put her arm around Gabriella, but the boy who was with her looked less enthusiastic about letting the East High strangers in. "Kitchen and cafeteria are that way." Most of the group filed off to get sustenance, but Chad and Gabriella and Taylor followed Hannah.

"Tay... you need to eat something." Gabriella said. "We'll take care of him."

"I can do this too! I'm your teammate!" Chad stifled a laugh, thinking that the only types of teams dealt with sports and not, you know, academics. Taylor shot a glare at him.

"You're also worried sick that he might get hurt, and that is going to stand in the way of helping him get any better."

"I'm worried about more than that--" she cut herself off. "But you're right." She gave Gabriella a hug that lingered and blew Chad a kiss. "Take care of yourself, jock."

"No problem, nerd." He said with a smile.


	4. Chapter 4

Hannah made him lay down on a table in the lab. "We're going to need to put you under."

"Good luck with that. Modern medicine doesn't work on my macho muscles." He raised an eyebrow.

Gabriella sighed. "Photosynthesis occurs when oxygen and--" She looked at the table, where he lay snoring. "Chemistry. Works every time."

"Your team's so bad that they don't care if you're qualified grade-wise?" Gabriella lightly hit her arm and laughed.

"I guess so. Even though we beat you guys this year. And last year. So maybe you should lower your standards."

"Ouch. Ok."

"Not like you care about basketball."

"You don't either, last I checked."

"Boyfriend."

"Ah." She picked up a small syringe and added some liquid to it. "So what else is new?"

"Aside from apocalypse?"

"Yeah. New in... Gabriella life."

"We beat your scholastic team in the finals."

"That's because you guys are insufferable nerds. Don't have time for anything but that nonsense."

"You can't tell me it's good to have a medal hanging from your neck." Gabriella laughed. "Also, I'm the one with the boyfriend here."

"I'm the one with the girlfriend." Hannah grinned but looked down at Chad, and her grin turned into a more solemn face. "Or at least I was."

"I'm sorry. I really am."

"I couldn't save her from this... from this disease." She looked back up at Gabriella. "But we might have figured out the cure. If it's used soon enough."

"So let's go! You have the medicine and the expertise. Let's save Chad!"

"I can't."

"Well, I can." She reached for the syringe, but Hannah held it away from her.

"I can't let you do it either."

"Excuse me?"

"I can't let East High be the heroes. Not in basketball, not in scholastic competitions." She wrinkled her nose at Chad. "Not even in this."

"Now that's just silly--"

"Don't get near me." She held the syringe aloft. "I will break it. This is the last of it, and I will destroy it."

"Hannah, please give it to me."

"No. If I couldn't save Lissie, you can't save anyone." She threw the syringe to the floor and ground the glass with her toe.

"Why did you do that?"

"You're going to want to run."

"Why?" Hannah twitched. "What's going on, Hannah?"

Hannah bore her teeth, revealing a row of pearly greens.

"BRAAAAIIINNNSS!!" Her mouth gaped open, as did Gabriella's. She wasn't a zombie, just too shocked to run away. She didn't even have to run because zombie-Hannah was incredibly slow. So she speed-walked to the kitchen area, making sure to grab a piece of the broken glass that had some of the precious antidote to the zombie infection smeared on it.

When she reached the doorway to the kitchen area, she heard faint music and her friends singing. Of course they'd be singing in a time of crisis. She opened the door, and they all stopped. Taylor stood up.

"Is everything good? He's ok?"

"I--"

"You couldn't save him and now he's a zombie and there's no use trying anymore we're all going to be zombies this is the end it's ok Gabriella you couldn't have--"

"I don't know how he is. He was still asleep by the time I left."

"But you got him all healed?"

"Wanna follow me?" They left the room and passed zombie-Hannah, who had only made it about halfway to the kitchen area. She cocked her head at the two walking towards the lab, but kept walking straight forward and into a wall, falling over.

"That was Hannah?" Taylor asked.

"Yeah. Something happened to her and... we didn't finish working with Chad." Gabriella opened the door to the lab. Chad was still lying down where they left him, still sleeping. She held up the glass from the syringe. "She said this was the antidote, but then she destroyed the syringe. I tried to salvage a little. I don't know how much use it's going to be."

"Well... let's give it a shot."

"There's barely enough."

"It's something!" Taylor opened the cupboards and drawers in the lab and rummaged for a clean syringe. She held one up, rinsed it out, and carefully gathered what Gabriella had and what was spilled on the floor. It was maybe a third full, but she injected it into Chad's arm. "There." She shook her head. "You couldn't have done that?"

"I wanted your permission--"

"It's ok." She smiled and gave Gabriella a hug. "We worked it out."

One of the boys had decapitated zombie-Hannah the moment she stood herself up and continued walking towards the kitchen. Gabriella and Taylor didn't just know this because of the severed head right outside the kitchen doors (which definitely would not have been up to code), but the knives and axes that were waved around the moment they stepped into the room.

"Sorry." Troy said, dropping his knife. "Did you save Chad?"

"Yeah." Taylor said. "Yeah I think so. It was just a medicine that we had to inject."

"That's it?" Jason said. "There's already an injection? Sweet! Let's inject all the zombies, man!" He held up his hand for a high five. Sharpay raised an eyebrow.

"That seems weird that there's already a cure. This thing has only been going on for..." she counted on her fingers, but probably just wanted to show off her perfectly manicured nails. "A few hours. Nothing that you'd be able to find a cure for right away."

"Ha-ha, Sharpay," Troy laughed. "Focus on something that's more your lane. Like your nails." She showed him her nails with a rude gesture.

“No, she has a point, Troy.” Gabriella said. Troy put his hands in his face and spun around, much like when Gabriella went to audition for the Spring Musicale their junior year. “There wouldn’t have been any time for research. Research takes time and trials and...” Her eyes widened and she looked at Taylor.

“Chad??” Her arms locked to her side, and she began to shake. One of the other girls in the room pulled over a chair and helped her sit down. She held her hand and rubbed it with her thumb, quietly whispering in her ear. Taylor nodded a few times and breathed in, held her breath, and breathed out. She whispered thank you and then stood back up. “Sorry… sorry… where were we?”

Gabriella pointed at the girl. “Stay here with Taylor. Get her something to drink.” She turned and looked at Troy. “You, come with me.” They walked down the hall and back into the lab. Chad was no longer on the table.

“Ok. He’s not here. Let’s go.”

“No, Troy. Listen.” Silence. “Sorry. Thought I heard−”

Chad burst through the door. His hair was no longer tousled normally − it fell flat with the blood that matted it. He moaned and groaned and didn’t seem to appreciate the glass from the windows and the wood from the doors that fell all over his shirt and pants. He stepped into the room and ran into a table. Troy and Gabriella huddled in the corner, not knowing what to do now that their best friend was dead (rather, undead).

“What do we do, Troy?”

“I don’t know, Gabriella!” He shook his head. “I don’t know what to do now that my best friend is dead! Undead! I don’t−”

Chad’s body fell straight down as his head flew to the right of the room. Taylor stood behind it with an ax. She was panting, gasping, almost crying.

“Taylor...” Gabriella said, slowly standing up. She held out her hand to take the ax, but Taylor kept her grip on it. “It’s ok. It’s ok.” She kept her hands visible and took the ax from her and handed it to Troy. Taylor stared straight ahead, right at Chad’s headless body, but Gabriella walked her out of the room and sat her down on the ground. Taylor started to cry, and Gabriella rubbed her back, careful not to show her any of her own tears.


	5. Chapter 5

Gabriella held a candle in one hand and Taylor's shaking hand in her other. They stood on the edge of the pond by West High and all threw their candles on the funeral pyre that held what was left of Chad's rotting corpse. Lilting piano music played, and they all turned to see Kelsi wearing her newsboy cap playing the baby grand piano that had been abandoned by the pond. It was decked out in Christmas lights and sequins, per request of West High's music director (who had recently passed by becoming a zombie). Gabriella started to hum.

"We may no longer be/all together but we/"

“Know that we all are here/All of us can be near/”

“When we hold each other close/And we try to let go/”

“Of the ones we once loved/And the ones that we lost...”

They continued to sing for another five or so minutes. The song was definitely not as good as the ones like We're All In This Together, but it was all they could come up with in this time of despair. Troy took Gabriella’s hand and spun her around, and Taylor did a beautiful interpretive dance that lasted for the entire second half of the song. Her dance showed her mourning not only through her obscure arm movements and body twirling, but also through her stifled sobs and tears. Kelsi sat at the piano and played along to the beat that continued to change as the mood changed from sad to worse because another zombie showed up out of nowhere and bit poor Kelsi. She tried to fight it off with her newsboy cap, but hats of fabric are no match for dead humans. It bit off a chunk of her neck and she fell face first into the river.

“Is she going to turn into a zombie?” Taylor asked.

“She might, but we’ll see,” Gabriella sang back. Troy put his hand on her shoulder, as the song was now over and there was no reason for singing anymore, especially since there might be another zombie in the midst. Sharpay grabbed the one that bit Kelsi and snapped its neck and shoved an arrow into the back of its head, severing its brainstem. It fell to the ground, and she kicked it in the lake. Unfortunately, the disturbance in the water woke up Kelsi’s newly formed zombie.

“Those things wake up fast, huh?” Sharpay asked. She took out another arrow and with her precise aim, shot it through its neck and brainstem. Troy and Gabriella both stared at her with wide eyes. “What?”

“You’re really good at that.” Troy said. She nodded in thanks.

“I have to be. Otherwise you’d be dead by now.” Gabriella started to laugh. “You’d be dead too. You know that right?” Gabriella just nodded.

“Well...” Taylor said, standing up and wiping her eyes. “Now that my boyfriend’s funeral has turned into a war zone...”

“Right,” Gabriella said. “Safety. How many are we at?”

Troy started to count everyone off. “You, me, Taylor, Sharpay. That’s four. There’s also Ryan, Jason, Zeke.” He looked around at the corpses that littered the ground. “Seven of us. That’s all from East High.”

“All??” Gabriella looked at him incredulously − her eyes narrowed, her nose scrunched, and her mouth agape. “What about the freshmen? Sophomores? Teachers? Administrators?”

Troy looked dramatically off into the distance. “That’s all from East High.” Gabriella rolled her eyes and looked over to Jason who was fiddling with something metallic in his hands.

“Whatcha got there, Jason?” He looked up sheepishly and tried to put it in his pockets but accidentally dropped it so it fell to the ground with a small clink noise. He picked it up and put it in his pocket and crossed his arms and whistled, looking at the sky.

“Hmm?” He asked, pretending he didn’t hear her. “Oh, nothing.” Taylor walked over and held out her hand and put her other hand on her hip. Jason sighed and pulled a key out of his pocket.

“Where’d you get this?”

“It was…” He waved his arms around in various gestures. “Darbus. She, uh… she gave it to me. She gave it to me on the last day of class. After we all sang the song before summer vacation.”

Sharpay took it from his hands and took a closer look at it. “This is the key to the drama storage. She doesn’t just give it away to people. Especially−” She eyed him up and down and scoffed. “Basketball boys.”

Zeke wanted to say something, but kept his mouth shut.

“But if we go back to East...”

Everyone groaned.

“No, hear me out.” She held the key aloft and stepped forward. “She was brilliant.” Troy snorted, but Sharpay glared at him, and he shrunk back. “Her sets, her costumes, everything’s still going to be there. We can build something to be safe. To get out of here.”

“That’s...” Troy nodded. “That’s a good idea.”

She raised her eyebrows. “You sound surprised.”

“Well normally you’d just sabotage us,” he put his arm around Gabriella, “Spy on us, and try to steal the part that we deserve.”

“Deserve?” She scoffed and put the key in the pocket of her skirt. “You think you deserve that part because you show up during practice and you fly in out of nowhere?” She waved her arm at Gabriella. “No offense, girlfriend.”

“None taken.”

“I have been the lead in every school production for years. Seventeen productions, Troy. How many have you been in?”

“One, not counting the Midsummer Night’s Talent Show.” He high fived two of the basketball boys.

“That you didn’t win.”

“Neither did you.”

“Because I gave it away. Which I’m sure you wouldn’t have done. You couldn’t even deal without your girlfriend for a few hours.”

“That’s… that’s harsh, Shar.”

“She’s right!” Martha chirped. Gabriella looked at Troy, who clearly miscounted the seven that were all from East High.

“The point is...” Sharpay got into his face. “I’m definitely smarter than you think I am.”

“Damn.” He held up his hands in defense and backed off. “Sounds good.”

“We’re leaving West. We’re going back to East.”

“How are we going to get there?” Taylor asked.

“Chad’s truck.” Taylor’s eyes widened and she shook her head. Gabriella took her hand and rubbed her shoulder.

“That’s the only way?”

“Unless you’d be interested in fighting all of the zombies down that road, you can take my bow.” She took the full quiver off of her back. “It’s not going to be helpful though. Lot of zombies. Not a lot of arrows, not a quick reload time.” She winked. “Good luck, girlfriend.”

“No.” Taylor shook her head. “No, I’m not going to let her die.” She looked at Sharpay. “You’re sure about this?”

“I know you guys think she was crazy, but she was a genius. I swear.” She nodded at Gabriella. “I swear.”


	6. Chapter 6

After swinging her hammer at the last of the zombies, Gabriella opened the front doors to their school. It was different than she remembered. She had walked and even run through these formerly pristine halls (without even getting caught by a hall monitor, what a teacher’s pet), but now they were full of the stench of rotten flesh and blood. She gagged at the walls that were spattered with gore, making the red and gold even redder, but kept going with the group (she still wasn’t sure how many were there − Troy was insistent it was just seven.)

They were getting closer to seven. Ryan and Martha both valiantly gave their lives as they climbed on the hood of the car to fight off some zombies that were too stubborn to just fall off. Unfortunately, they were both bit and did end up falling off. Fortunately, they did take the two zombies with them. So maybe it wasn’t so much of a valiant giving of their lives, but a nice distraction that left their fates open.

Zeke headed straight for the kitchens. He was ready − recipe and all − and he knew where the food stashes were. They all wondered if he’d be fine on his own, but he picked up a sledgehammer that had been left on the ground on top of a zombie’s body and nodded. If they were going to hole up in here, he insisted, they’d need food. And who better to make food than him? They couldn’t just say no.

When they reached the drama storage door, Sharpay took a deep breath. She put the key in the lock and turned it, and when she looked inside the large room, she looked like she was about to cry.

“Is everything alright?” Gabriella asked.

“It just… it looks the same in here. It wasn’t hit at all. This is what we have left from before this… infestation.” She nodded. “I’m fine. A little emotional is all.”

“So what’s the plan?” Taylor asked.

“Why do you need a plan?”

“I’m just a little more… analytical, I guess.”

“If you’re gonna get out of this,” she threw her a hammer and some nails and pointed at some planks and palettes that were abandoned from a previous play in the corner of the room, “You’re gonna have to learn how to get a little creative.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Ok… Troy, grab that cart. We’re going to need to start moving stuff around. Gabriella, help him please. Jason...” Jason was standing in the corner pocketing some tools. “Jason, stop stealing things. We need that.” He looked down sheepishly and put the tools back. “Let’s see… Zeke’s in the kitchen. Ryan...” She nodded to herself, remembering his unknown fate. “We’re going to make a barricade trailer for the truck. That way we can be safe on the run.”

“How do you plan on doing that?” Taylor asked.

“We’ll need to build a wall or something from the doors of the building to the truck, just so no zombies get in there. After that, there are a few spare trailers back here that we had for moving sets, but I don’t know how we−”

Troy looked up from the cart. “We could attach weapons to them. Strengthen the doors with what we have here. It’s a shield that doubles as a weapon.”

Sharpay nodded. “What he said.”

“Whoa now,” Troy said, holding up his hands in defense, “Don’t start flirting with me. I have a girlfriend, and you’re not about to break us up. Again.”

“I wasn’t… I literally just...” She scoffed. “Whatever.” She clapped. “Let’s go.”

They had to be quick. That they knew, especially when they felt the wall they built around the doors and the truck start to clatter with the undead bodies on the other side shaking it, trying to rip it down. With what they had, it wasn’t going to hold for long. Taylor trembled every time she heard the groans on the other side, but Gabriella was by her side to keep her from panic.

And the truck and trailer, once they were done, were less than beautiful.

“Ladies, you all get in first.” Troy said. “I’ll break down the wall and jump on once we’re through.” Taylor rolled her eyes at his macho-ness.

First were some of the students that were not in the seven from East High that Troy estimated. It was only about two people, but they took shelter in the trailer.

Next was Jason. He took the driver’s seat, giving Troy a bro hug before hopping in the leather interior.

Next was Sharpay. She went in the trailer with the other kids. Gabriella noticed Troy’s eyes linger just a little too long, but she didn’t want to say anything.

Next was Taylor, followed closely by Gabriella.

“Where’s Zeke?” Taylor asked, counting everyone in the car. Her mouth gaped open. “Shoot… we left him in the kitchens...”

“He’ll survive!” Sharpay yelled. “Kitchen’s full of weapons! Just drive!”

Jason looked in the rear-view mirror and saw hordes of zombies heading towards the truck and trailer, so he slammed his foot on the gas pedal and the truck squealed away. Troy jumped in the trunk and climbed through the window. The zombies got smaller in the mirror, but his constant looking through the mirror instead of on the road led to a very rough ride for the people in the truck and trailer.

“You… are not driving… anyone… anymore.” Gabriella hissed between bumps. “How did you… even get your… license?”

“I don’t have it!” He yelled as he tried to hit a hill in the style of the Dukes of Hazzard. It did not fly as well as he intended, and instead just went to the ground and continued to drive. It was not very impressive.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The thrilling conclusion

Jason hit the gas instead of the brakes as they neared the wall of West High. It was lucky, though, because a zombie just happened to stumble right in front of the truck and just happened to get smooshed between the truck and the wall. The people in the truck jumped, partially at the sight, and partially at the fact that they just rammed into a brick wall with a pickup truck that was enforced with weapons and shields. The airbags inflated, and the truck was silent for a moment. Gabriella forgot what the silence was like, what with the zombies everywhere and the sound of yelling everywhere. It was nice, but like all nice things, was quickly ruined by Troy.

“Bro, that was awesome!” Troy shouted and held up his hand for a high five. He went to hit Jason’s hand, but as Jason held up his hand for a high five, he cringed and cradled it to his chest. “Owwww this hurts… why does this hurt?” Jason whined.

“It’s probably broken.” Taylor said. “I’ll be able to fix that once we move.”

“Weren’t we supposed to come in through the garage? Or the auto shop? So we wouldn’t be… you know… surrounded as we got out?” Sharpay asked, looking out the window and then looking over to make sure Gabriella was ok. They exchanged a quick smile before Sharpay quickly turned back to the window.

“Shar’s right.” Gabriella said.

“She’s ruining our relationship!!!” Troy whined.

“Oh my god, Troy, I’m not interested in a relationship with you. Or anyone for that matter.”

“And on that note, oh my god, Troy, get over yourself. Sharpay is right. We were supposed to go through the auto shop, but SOMEONE−” She glared at Jason. “Can’t drive.”

“It must be my broken wrist that made me not be able to drive.”

“Maybe it was hitting the wall at full speed that made your wrist break.”

“Maybe we should stop arguing and everyone should look out the window.” Sharpay said, pointing towards the window in a way that showed off her still-flawless manicure.

They had cleared the area by West, they were sure of it. They didn’t drive back and forth between the schools and lose so many people to _not_ be sure that the way between the schools was clear. But the zombies followed. They were a small blur on the horizon, but there were a lot of them. They wouldn’t be able to take them on one by one.

“We challenge them.” Troy said.

“What? With weapons? Fighting?”

“With basketball.” He dramatically looked into the distance and tried to think up words that he could start singing that everyone would join in on, but the little lyricist in his head must have realized that three movies was enough and a fourth one with a whole new cast just wouldn’t be as good.

Or the little lyricist should have realized that three movies was enough and a fourth one with a whole new cast wouldn’t be as good, but he started singing. It was horrible, it didn’t rhyme, it didn’t make sense, and it was just kind of a mess. Jason still listened to support his bro, though.

“Ok...” Gabriella whistled. “Now that that’s done… forever. How are you going to challenge brainless creatures with basketball?”

“Darbus was still like her old self when she was a zombie. Her stage makeup was amazing. It looked like part of her shoulder was missing!”

“It was missing!”

“So believable, right? So maybe the basketball players will remember how to play. If they win, they can eat us. If we win… we escape.”

“No offense, bro,” Jason said, “But I don’t think we should be negotiating with zombies. They’re not here to be friends. They’re just hungry. And I don’t think they understand stuff.”

“Well, it’s going to happen. Are you in or are you in?”

“Bro, I’m in!!” They high-fived and jumped out of the truck. The girls climbed to the top of the truck, where they were guarded by the shields that they had built while in the drama room. Even though they knew it wouldn’t work out in the boys’ favor, they figured they’d watch.

“Hello, zombies!!” Troy said as he jumped in front of them. “Join me on the basketball court!” He ran over to the court with Jason, and the zombies followed close behind. Gabriella was surprised that the zombies didn’t seem as bloodthirsty [AN: brainthirsty?] as they were earlier. They seemed… genuinely interested in playing? As genuinely interested as a horde of the undead could be, she supposed.

“You got a ball?” Jason asked. One of the zombies ripped the head off a nearby zombie and threw it on the ground, where it didn’t bounce, but instead gave an unsatisfying _thump_ as it rolled away.

“Urgghhhnnnnnhnghhhhhh.” The head groaned as it rolled away. [Author translation: You gotta getcha getcha getcha getcha head in the game.]

“Unnnnnnnnnnnnghghhhghhhhgghhuunhgggg.” One of the other zombies groaned. [Author translation: Bro, that was our best guy! How are we supposed to beat these East suckers now??]

“Unngnggh.” Another one groaned. [Author translation: I’m hungry. Can we just get this over with?]

“That’s… um… dedication.” Troy forgot that, like his old pal Chad, he always kept a basketball handy. He whipped it out of thin air and bounced it on the ground. “Better than a zombie head that can’t bounce.”

“Hgughgg!!” The head groaned. [Author translation: That’s rude! I’m trying my hardest here!]

“Sorry.” Troy bounced the ball once, twice, thrice, and the game was on. Without a coach’s instructions, he remembered to fake right, break left, watch out for the pick and keep his eye on defense. He had to run the give and go and take the ball to the hole. He wasn’t afraid to shoot the outside J, but he was more afraid when he shot the outside J and landed in the middle of a cluster of zombies. He did not survive.

All of a sudden, a stray bullet, probably meant for one of the zombies, came out of nowhere and hit Jason in the stomach and he died as well.

The three girls were shocked and a little sad, but they figured it was going to happen. But where did the stray bullet come from? The zombies turned towards their direction, where the sound came from. None of them shot it, they reassured themselves. The zombies started to head towards their truck.

“Gabriella, if we’re going to die, there’s something I need to tell you.” Taylor said. “I’m in love with you.”

“Oh god, I thought it was just me. Who was in love with you. Not with myself.” They kissed as the horde of zombies came closer to their truck.

“Thank goodness. I was waiting for you two to do that.” Sharpay said. “But also….” She pointed towards the ground.

“Right… Right….” Gabriella brushed herself off and tucked her hair behind her ear. “Let’s fight. Right?”

Sharpay leaned over the wall and shot a single arrow that hit three different zombies. Taylor took the lead pipe that was lying around and tied it to a piece of rope and swung it around and knocked zombies over like bowling pins. Gabriella ducked as they both took up all of the space by the wall, and she didn’t want to die just yet.

But the zombies just kept going. They didn’t stop at the truck. They didn’t try to attack them, even though they were fighting back. They kept going. And in just a few minutes, the ground was clear.

“What the…?” Sharpay put down her bow and shook her head in disbelief. “Should we check it out?”

“Yeah. Yeah, let’s do it.”

Sharpay held her bow and arrow at the ready, Taylor her pipe-on-a-rope, and Gabriella pried an ax from one of the bodies lying against the wall. With her other hand, she held Taylor’s free hand. Sharpay scoffed at their public display of affection, but she thought it was cute.

Across the horizon, Gabriella saw the blur of zombies getting smaller and smaller. Was it over? Was it just Troy and Jason’s fault, and now that they were gone, it was all over? Was she going to grieve at all, or would she be just too shocked by everything that had happened to do anything?

She wouldn’t be able to answer those now. Maybe not for a while. But as the three walked towards the disappearing blur on the horizon, they heard faint music slowly growing louder and louder.

_Music’s in my soul. I can feel it every day and every night. It’s the one thing on my mind._


End file.
